FB: American Rivers Conference

[DutchFan2004]

Purple Heys,

Congrats to PH jr on the award.  It is nice to be recognized for the hard work. 

[DutchFan2004]

footballdaddy,

The countdown has begun for you as well to get the karma power.  Here is some +k to keep you on to get to 200

[Purple Heys]

Speaking of my kid's selection process...His second choices were either the SCIAC's Cal Lutheran or NAIA's Azusa Pacific.  

I know of Central since I grew up in Redlands and waaaayyy back when in the 70's they tangled with them.  But the Dutch were never a conslderation.  Redlands was a consideration but then it would be like he really wasn't getting away to learn to live on his own.  My wife and I could foresee him taking laundry to Grandma's house every weekend while Gramps BBQ'd steaks every weekend...wait a minute that's sounds pretty good....what were we thinking.  

Bottom Line:  we felt it was important to "go away" for college.  Most of the SCIAC schools sent him recruiting info and he visited Oxy.  There were a few other Midwest DIII's and NAIA's (Graceland in particular recruited hard and continues to recruit San Diego hard) )that contacted him and sent letters but Cornell was first choice primarily because of the Evelyn Wood-style curriculum.  It suited what he was looking for academically, Dillon has a lot of enthusiasm as does BV alum Bentz (and I think both are great folks and I am proud that they recruited my kid).

He wanted to continue to compete in college and he got that opportunity right away at Cornell...kind of an added bonus to finding a school that teaches the way he likes to learn.

Here's my take:  These, with few exceptions, will be the last 4 years you play full pads full contact football.  Unless you get to the next level, and few DIII's do, there are no men's leagues football that satisfies after college.  Why would a kid, who is ostensibly at a DIII school for the education, not a ticket to the pros, want to spend 2 or 3 years of his final 4 years watching and waiting to play 1 year?

I guess you could say that the kid who just finished his 4 years at Central as a 4 year defensive scout team cannon fodder player but got no PT can say he has league titles and loads of Vance Schuring cleat marks to sport.  Me, I'd rather play and get to run at him in a game.

[Purple Heys]

PH...

If the kid that plays for UCLA doesn't catch a break in the pros, after watching 2 straight nights of promos for the NEW American Gladiators, it sounds as though his physique and physicality would make him a prime candidate for them

He certainly could...he has that square jawed look and that long hair the kids these days are wearing.

Holy crap, I sound like my dad!

[BeaverOfYore]

Speaking of my kid's selection process...His second choices were either the SCIAC's Cal Lutheran or NAIA's Azusa Pacific. 

I know of Central since I grew up in Redlands and waaaayyy back when in the 70's they tangled with them.  But the Dutch were never a conslderation.  Redlands was a consideration but then it would be like he really wasn't getting away to learn to live on his own.  My wife and I could foresee him taking laundry to Grandma's house every weekend while Gramps BBQ'd steaks every weekend...wait a minute that's sounds pretty good....what were we thinking.   

Bottom Line:  we felt it was important to "go away" for college.  Most of the SCIAC schools sent him recruiting info and he visited Oxy.  There were a few other Midwest DIII's and NAIA's (Graceland in particular recruited hard and continues to recruit San Diego hard) )that contacted him and sent letters but Cornell was first choice primarily because of the Evelyn Wood-style curriculum.  It suited what he was looking for academically, Dillon has a lot of enthusiasm as does BV alum Bentz (and I think both are great folks and I am proud that they recruited my kid).

He wanted to continue to compete in college and he got that opportunity right away at Cornell...kind of an added bonus to finding a school that teaches the way he likes to learn.

Here's my take:  These, with few exceptions, will be the last 4 years you play full pads full contact football.  Unless you get to the next level, and few DIII's do, there are no men's leagues football that satisfies after college.  Why would a kid, who is ostensibly at a DIII school for the education, not a ticket to the pros, want to spend 2 or 3 years of his final 4 years watching and waiting to play 1 year?

I guess you could say that the kid who just finished his 4 years at Central as a 4 year defensive scout team cannon fodder player but got no PT can say he has league titles and loads of Vance Schuring cleat marks to sport.  Me, I'd rather play and get to run at him in a game.

Excellent post Heys.  If I could grant karma, I would.

[Klopenhiemer]

Speaking of my kid's selection process...His second choices were either the SCIAC's Cal Lutheran or NAIA's Azusa Pacific. 

I know of Central since I grew up in Redlands and waaaayyy back when in the 70's they tangled with them.  But the Dutch were never a conslderation.  Redlands was a consideration but then it would be like he really wasn't getting away to learn to live on his own.  My wife and I could foresee him taking laundry to Grandma's house every weekend while Gramps BBQ'd steaks every weekend...wait a minute that's sounds pretty good....what were we thinking.   

Bottom Line:  we felt it was important to "go away" for college.  Most of the SCIAC schools sent him recruiting info and he visited Oxy.  There were a few other Midwest DIII's and NAIA's (Graceland in particular recruited hard and continues to recruit San Diego hard) )that contacted him and sent letters but Cornell was first choice primarily because of the Evelyn Wood-style curriculum.  It suited what he was looking for academically, Dillon has a lot of enthusiasm as does BV alum Bentz (and I think both are great folks and I am proud that they recruited my kid).

He wanted to continue to compete in college and he got that opportunity right away at Cornell...kind of an added bonus to finding a school that teaches the way he likes to learn.

Here's my take:  These, with few exceptions, will be the last 4 years you play full pads full contact football.  Unless you get to the next level, and few DIII's do, there are no men's leagues football that satisfies after college.  Why would a kid, who is ostensibly at a DIII school for the education, not a ticket to the pros, want to spend 2 or 3 years of his final 4 years watching and waiting to play 1 year?

I guess you could say that the kid who just finished his 4 years at Central as a 4 year defensive scout team cannon fodder player but got no PT can say he has league titles and loads of Vance Schuring cleat marks to sport.  Me, I'd rather play and get to run at him in a game.

Excellent post Heys.  If I could grant karma, I would.

I am going to have to agree with BOY on this one and give you both karma since I have been karma empowered.  I felt the same way as your son did.  I was not looking to go to Central or Wartburg at all.  I figured that if I went to a second tier team and proved myself then the playing time would come.  Also BOY's explanation of wanting to be a part of something is what lured be down to Beaverland.  They had always competed and looked to be on the rise.  We did rise and fell a bit short but non the less it was the best season of football that I was ever a part of. 
Here is another point I will leave this post with.  There was a kid I went to high school with that played JV and PAT team his senior year.  The kid had an awesome heart but was a terrible athlete.  Then he went to Central and rode the pine for 4 more years, to a scout team hero.  Im sure he ended up with Schurings cleats all over his face.  The point is you spend your whole career riding the pine and getting beat up in practice but you received a conference champ. tshirt.  How fullfilling is that?  I understand knowing your role and not all kids play but there comes a point where as a student athelete you have to put yourself in the best possible contention to play/succeed.  I do not agree with just rolling over and quiting due to playging time, but we have to be honest with ourselves.  I am sure that all the boys in BV, Cornell, Lor, and Luth all wanted to win just as bad as Central did this year.  So when they finally pop the cherry, its goign to be a sweet stink. 

[doolittledog]

Hey, BOY...just 139 more posts and you will be karma enabled.  I think I gave everybody on the IIAC board that posted today +k...you know, for the effort. 

I liked hearing about schools that came in 2nd or 3rd place in the selection process and why.  Fun reads. 

[Klopenhiemer]

Hey, BOY...just 139 more posts and you will be karma enabled.  I think I gave everybody on the IIAC board that posted today +k...you know, for the effort. 

I liked hearing about schools that came in 2nd or 3rd place in the selection process and why.  Fun reads. 

Here is a good second college choice story for you Doolittle.  I wanted to get way away from IA so looked into schools in the NSIC.  I had a few giving me quite a bit of interest and one was Bemidji State in northern MN.  I knew the area well and could not help but think of all the Hamms I could drink
So we drive 8 hours north and do a visit.  We shop up and we do not have name tags and everyone else does.  We do not have any folders made up with our names and everyone else does.  When we walked in the door it was like the stereo stopped and everyone said who are these guys.  So we go through the day and they are kissing our tails for not having any of this information ready.  Come to find out the coach that set this up left our names off the list.  So the players take us out that night we have a ball of time.  Everything is looking like I am heading that way.  We get dropped off at the hotel and no room was saved for us.  They have one room left that was reserved for a lady named Sis Brown and I said that me and signed off and used that name as my alias.  At that point  a couple high school kids had already had more booze than they should have.  So we get to the room and there is no heat.  Now is Jan. in northern MN and the outside temp is -2.  So they gave us extra blankets and we just passed out.  Come to find out they failed to make hotel reservations for us as well.  Then the next day we go to meet the head coach and they did slot us.  So all the times were filled up.  So we waited around for a while and then go to speak with him briefy before we headed home.  It was a great campus and a fun school but wow they treated us like poor relation.  The amount of phone calls made it seem as though they really wanted us, long way to drive to get dissapointed. 

[kestrel]

I rarely come over to the IIAC page, but the references to Luther job candidates immediately caught my attention (and were quite obvious to this long-time WIAC  fan.) So, if anyone wants to go googling, check out Stan Zweifel, 16-year O coordinator at UW-Whitewater and Mike Durnin, D coordinator at UW - La Crosse.  Zweifel is the obvious first choice but will want more money than Luther may be able to pay (he's making $85,00 in his current H.S. AD position).

[footballdaddy]

Here's one interesting fact about my son's recruiting. The teams he was most interested in were the teams promising the least as far as playing time. He could have gone to some of the other teams in the conference. Almost all of them recruited him. In the end he felt that he played for a high school program that competed for conference and district titles almost every year for the last 30. He felt comfortable in whatever role he would have in a contender in college.


Thanks for all the +k. It really feels like Christmas!

[doolittledog]

Great story Klop, I can see how even a love of Hamm's wouldn't be able to persuade you to make the move up north after that kind of treatment!!!

[Rugman]

Great story Klop, I can see how even a love of Hamm's wouldn't be able to persuade you to make the move up north after that kind of treatment!!!

Um, Dave....you can put the link to your web page back now...we're gone.

[dutchfan1]

I think it's interesting that Coe is consistently thought of as part of the top tier in the conference. Looking back, the last 5 years have shown that they are not quite at the "contender" level in my mind.  Check it out:

2003 - Coe went 5-5, losses to Simpson, Luther, Wartburg, BV and Loras
2004 - Coe went 7-3, losses to UD, Wartburg
2005 - Coe went 9-2, conf loss to Wartburg
2006 - Coe went 7-3, losses to Central, Wartburg and Loras
2007 - Coe went 7-3, losses to UD, Wartburg and Central

As I am looking at this, it strikes me that outside an outstanding 2005 season, which included a playoff appearance, Coe is consistently defeated by Wartburg and UD. I guess I'm wondering how people lump Coe in with the conference contenders every year when they continue to struggle with the same foes.

Thoughts?

With all due respect, Dutchfan1, your logic is flawed. The only team that has "consistently" beaten Coe is Wartburg -- each of the last five years, as your data shows. Losses to UD this year and back in 2004 is no more of a pattern than Coe's losses to Central this year and last or Loras in 06 and 03. Also, your analysis conveniently left of 2002, when Coe, Wartburg and Central were tri-champions and Coe advanced to the second round of the playoffs. Coe has shared a piece of the conference title three out of the last six years and was in the hunt for the past two. That makes them conference contenders in my book.

CK, I absolutely appreciate your logic. I didn't go as far back as 2002 as I thought that a 5 year history was sufficient.

Let me rephrase my question: how many conference championships (outright or shared) does a school need to win consistently to be considered a perinnial title contender?

[doolittledog]

Great story Klop, I can see how even a love of Hamm's wouldn't be able to persuade you to make the move up north after that kind of treatment!!!

Um, Dave....you can put the link to your web page back now...we're gone.

Oh no you're not!!! 

[Rugman]

Great story Klop, I can see how even a love of Hamm's wouldn't be able to persuade you to make the move up north after that kind of treatment!!!

Um, Dave....you can put the link to your web page back now...we're gone.

Oh no you're not!!! 

Just driving by once in awhile.  Keept the yard light on and the dogs on the leash.